Pun/Dajare

Pun – no, not that Japanese word for bread. That is pan! Pun is a form of word play which uses unrelated words of the same pronunciation (homophones), words that are spelled the same but have different meanings (homograph), metonymy (calling a thing or concept not by its own name but rather by the name of something it is associated with), and metaphors. A recent trend on Facebook, vaguely called Facebook Names, has got people changing the lyrics of a song to names of people.

The expression honno kimochi can be translated as “mere or just feelings” and is usually heard when someone is giving a gift. The expression can also be spelled as hon no kimochi which has a different and silly meaning: a book’s emotion. (Image from AC-Illust)

While English puns tend to be an ordinary sentence replaced with the aforementioned type of words to make the situation absurd or change the meaning, in Japanese, puns, which are called dajare (駄洒落), tend to have the same syllables said twice, carrying a different meaning the second time yet still making a completely understandable sentence.

The different types (spelled here as tai-pu) of Tai (Japanese for sea bream): koishitai (in-love tai), okoritai (angry tai), nemutai (sleepy tai), and tabetai (hungry tai). In Japanese language, ~tai is added to a word to express “want”. For example, tabetai, from the verb taberu which means “to eat”, means “want to eat”. (Image from AC-Illust)

Same as the English puns, Japanese puns are funnier to the teller than the receiver. When delivered, Japanese puns are to be said with a straight face, and are often reacted to with an even straighter face, as no one finds them funny. In Japan, listeners react to not funny jokes, especially dajare, by describing it as samui (寒い, lit. meaning cold).

Examples

Let’s learn some of these dajare and their meanings:

ニューヨークで入浴 (nyūyōku de nyūyoku) – taking a bath in New York

New York when spelled in katakana is ニューヨーク (nyūyōku), 入浴 (nyūyōku) means to take a bath

アルミ缶の上にあるみかん (arumi kan no ue ni aru mikan) – a mikan (Mandarin orange) on top of an aluminum can

Aluminum is shortened as アルミ (arumi) in Japanese, 缶(kan) has the same sound of its English translation, can. ある (aru) means to exist, and みかん (mikan) is a mandarin orange.

イルカがいるか (iruka ga iru ka?) – Is there a dolphin?

塩がないのはしょうがない(shio ga nai wa shō ga nai) – It can’t be helped if there is no salt.

塩 (shio) is salt in Japanese while shō ga nai is an expression that means “it can’t be helped”

スキーが好き(sukī ga suki) – I like skiing.

スキー(sukī) is from the English word ski while 好き (suki) means “to like”.

This one’s kind of clever. It formed a coherent sentence from using the same phrase twice. 傷んだ (itanda) means damaged, 廊下 (rouka) means hallway, いたん (itan) is the past tense of iru which means “to exist” and だろうか (darou ka) is a combination of two expressions is a sentence ender which can be translated as “right?”.

Dajare are also associated with oyaji gags (親父ギャグ), oyaji meaning “old man”, as an “old man” would be considered by the younger generation most likely to attempt dajare.

Do you know any dajare? Share it with us in the comments section below!

Before I end this post, here is some skit which shows how Japanese words can be fun and at the same time difficult featured in our previous post about urban legends:

Sponsored Links

Related Article/s:

In our last posts about kotoba asobi (Kotoba Asobi 1, Kotoba Asobi 2), we learned about kaibun and dajare. If the previous two types of Japanese wordplay are kind of serious, the next two types, though it needs deeper knowledge of Japanese vocabulary, are fun and can be played with two or more persons. This […]

Monkey in Japan Although “saru” is a general word for monkeys, I guess most of Japanese would think it refers to Nihon-zaru, Japanese monkey. It has fluffy coat, red face and red butt. There are many areas where wild monkeys live in Japan. I’ve never seen one, but I saw a warning like “Be careful […]

At this years company excursion, we traveled down south to Seto Inland Sea. Located in between Imabari, Ehime and Onomichi, Hiroshima. It took us about three hours to reach the port of Shitadami where we boarded a small cruise vessel to experience the Rapid Tides of the Kurushima Strait. Before the cruise started, the cruise […]

Konpira in Kagawa (3) Konpira Shrine (3) [Shoin (Library building)] To reach here, you must walk up nearly 500 steps in total. The original meaning of “shoin” was a room used as a sitting room as well as a library of the master, but since around 1600, it has referred to a whole building. This […]

Japan is one of the countries located along the “Pacific Ring of Fire”. Countries along the “Pacific Ring of Fire” have high seismic and volcanic activity. This explains why earthquakes are common in the “Land of the Rising Sun”. There are many volcanoes in Japan. In fact, approximately ten percent of the world’s active volcanoes […]

The Symphony No. 9, a.k.a. “Choral”, is probably one of the most famous and beloved classical music in Japan. I played the (probably shortened) 4th movement on accordion as a member of a band when I was an elementary school student. (Other music I remember we played are the school song, and theme from “Space […]

Kendo techniques are divided into shikake-waza (to initiate a strike) and ōji-waza (a response to an attempted strike). Kendoka who wish to use such techniques during practice or competitions, often practice each technique with a motodachi. This is a process that requires patience. First practicing slowly and then as familiarity and confidence builds, the kendoka […]

As we learned about the history of Judo in our previous post, this time we will learn more about the sport and martial art, particularly on the practitioners (called judoka). The following two tabs change content below.BioLatest Posts harorudo Latest posts by harorudo (see all) Kaomoji: Expressing Emotions Through Text 2 – June 3, 2015 […]

Imagine yourself standing underneath a canopy of Cherry Blossom trees (Sakura) in full bloom, its delicate petals slowly dancing in the gentle spring breeze blowing. Its sounds like a scene from a movie right? But for the Japanese people these is no movie, it happens every spring. The annual Hanami – the Japanese tradition of […]

Mikan is one of the typical fruits in Japanese winter. When my siblings and I were ever-hungry children, my mother always bought a box with 15 kg (approx. 530 oz, 33 lb) of mikan in winter. We could easily eat up 15 mikan each at one sitting. I suppose the Engel’s coefficient of my family […]